‘How to Breed Sheep, Geese and English Eccentrics’ – Valerie Poore

Valerie has been a follower and commentator on my blogs for a few years, and I’ve always admired her honest, cheerful style, and been so thankful for all her support here. So when one of my other friends recommended ‘How to Breed Sheep, Geese and English Eccentrics’ I quickly got a kindle copy.

I wonder why it took me so long.

‘How to Breed Sheep, Geese and English Eccentrics‘ is an enjoyable, confidently written and entertaining account of one woman’s attempts to get to grips with small-scale farming. In this account, ignorance makes for some delightfully funny stories, which had me giggling late into the night, desperate not to wake my husband by laughing too loudly.

It was lovely to relax and read of other people’s misadventures, flirtations with disaster and a whole host of characters straight out of a modern-day Thomas Hardy. A boyfriend needing love, a dangerous(?) flirtation with a dodgy other, a mother with a carefree dress sense, and enough plot twists to leave me wondering, right up to the end.

Is this a true account, or a simple story? It could be either, and it hardly matters. ‘How to Breed Sheep, Geese and English Eccentrics’ is a delightful insight into so many of the things I should have liked to try – country living, self sufficiency, flirtation with disaster… At a time, in the 1970’s when internet, mobile phones and on-line living was a distant mirage, this account reads like an affectionate tribute to simpler times, and is instantly engaging.

Thank you, Valerie.

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